I am selling a charming Alfa Romeo 8C

For a company widely known for its gorgeous performance cars that look right at home parked outside the Hotel de Paris in Monaco, Alfa Romeo doesn’t exactly splurge. Granted, it’s always been good at making ordinary cars look very nice, and the occasional (often great) Quadrifoglio keeps its sporty image alive and kicking, but a dedicated performance car? Those only come around once every ten years, if that.

Most recently, it took the form of the highly unexpected and extremely limited 33 Stradale: a stunning tribute to its 1960s namesake and based on the underpinnings of the Maserati MC20, which strangely enough (albeit allegedly) started life as an Alfa. It’s a hotly debated topic, but if you’re inclined to believe the rumours, Alfa would follow up the 8C with a name to match. It has reportedly been axed along with the GTV coupe that rivals the BMW M4 to make way for more assured profit makers such as compact SUVs. Still, as consolidation prices go, it’s not much better than the MC20 and 33 Stradale, but it does mean that a car like the one we have here remains the latest (and potentially last) V8 Alfa.

In the looks department, topping the old 8C would be a tall order. It’s hard to believe that the Competizione concept debuted more than 20 years ago and that its design by Wolfgang Egger would be carried over to a production model four years later in 2007 without significant changes. Its name refers to the old eight-cylinder competition cars with its front-engined GT silhouette, a modern take on many beautiful racers from the latter half of the 1930s. But there’s a touch of the 60s, especially the almost kammback and ducktail – and yet it still feels modern.

In addition, the body was made of carbon fiber like only the most serious of the performance GTs of the time. Slightly less light was the steel chassis it was draped over, meaning the coupe isn’t as light on its feet as you’d think at 1,585kg. Still, the roaring 4.7-litre, 450bhp Ferrari-developed and Maserati-built V8 meant more than enough grunt to keep it going, and one hell of a soundtrack. There were also carbon-ceramic brakes, a limited-slip differential and (very on-trend for 2007) a six-speed automated manual transmission. That’s a kit list for a car that, at least from the outside, looks tailor-made for cruising the streets of Saint Tropez.

It’s safe to say that anticipation was high before the arrival of the 8C, especially since Alfa Romeo has never built a supercar in modern times. Unfortunately for the manufacturer, a scathing TG review hung over the 8C like a dark cloud for decades, with Clarkson describing the supercar’s handling as “terrible”. Ben Collins wasn’t too keen on the 8C either, ranking it among his least favorite cars from his time at the show. However, he also included the TVR Sagaris in this list, and having recently driven one myself, I’m not entirely sure what his point is. At six or seven tenths, the Sagaris is spectacular, as I’m sure the 8C would be.

Then again, I haven’t driven the Sagaris at Stig speed and I doubt many would in an Alfa 8C either. Not these days anyway, when this 6,996-mile example will set you back £239,990 – around double what it cost new in 2009. That opens the door to many Ferrari V12s like this 2016 F12 or even this. 812 Super fast. All very special cars, of course, but how often do you see an 8C roaming the streets of London or spinning tirelessly at a car rally? Rarely, and that’s a big win in our book.